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Reserve Bank enters Twitter age ... OMG!

The Reserve Bank has added Twitter to its arsenal of communications. But new data showing some stabilisation in demand for workers suggests the central bank won’t be tweeting an alert next Tuesday to say its raising its key interest rate.

From Thursday the Reserve Bank said it was expanding the ways for website users to receive update alerts by following @RBAInfo on Twitter.

Treasurer Wayne Swan, encouraged by his children, took the plunge into the social media space earlier this month with his own Twitter account - @SwannyDPM.

But it is something of a surprise that the staid central bank has followed suit. During his twice-yearly appearance in front of federal politicians last month, Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens said he felt the central bank received far more media coverage than its counterparts in other country’s.

‘‘I think we get too much coverage, really, to be honest, more than we should, but that is just my view,’’ Mr Stevens told the hearing.

New government data out today showed that old-style newspaper advertisements for skilled workers rose only modestly in March. At the same time, the wider quarterly job vacancies report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics fell 1.7 per cent in the three months to February compared with the previous three months.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations said its newspaper-based skilled vacancy index rose 0.6 per cent in March, but was down 9.8 per cent down over the year.

The department said it expected this trend to continue as employers moved away from newspapers to online advertising. Its less up-to-date internet vacancy index rose 0.1 per cent in February to be 13.2 per cent higher than a year ago.

An analysis by the National Australia Bank released on the economic outlook says the Reserve Bank is under no pressure to raise interest rates in the near term given the current softness in the economy.

But it still expects the unemployment rate to trend lower towards 4.5 per cent over the next year from its current level of 5.0 per cent as the mining-linked investment boom puts further strain on labour resources.

‘‘Skilled vacancies will intensify and wage pressures will rise,’’ its author NAB senior economist David de Garis says.

He expects the Reserve Bank will need to return to action in August after holding rates steady since November last year against a backdrop of rising price pressures and strengthening consumer demand.

He anticipates a further move in November, which will take the cash rate to 5.25 per cent from 4.75 per cent currently.

With a tightening labour market in mind, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Peter Anderson congratulated the government in its promotion of mature-age employment participation.

‘‘Australian employers need to develop innovative strategies to attract and retain valued employees to meet the vital skills needs of their business now and into the future,’’ Mr Anderson said in a statement.

Treasurer Swan told a mature-age participation conference in Sydney on Wednesday of the importance of older workers in the community and the value they add to businesses.

The federal government is establishing a new advisory panel to ensure older Australians are considered in a range of contemporary policy debates.